In a quiet residential area of Dong Trieu to the east of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, gabled and flat roofs are grouped around a green oasis. Branches and leaves entwine and intertwine around the round stone house with its oval courtyard. The bright green of the trees is echoed by the lawn on the accessible roof. The transition from nature to the wall, from the green of the plants to the blue of the STEIN, is fluid. The residents, a family with two children, want to live with and not against nature, feel the seasonal differences and hear the wind in the trees.
“If man believes he has to correct nature, it is always an irreparable mistake,” wrote Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. His architectural concept therefore also included planted balconies and roofs to give nature its space. In addition to bright colors, Hundertwasser buildings were also characterized by harmonizing curves. The Vietnamese house by Vo Trong Nghia Architekten is also characterized by this formal language.
The torus structure is characterized by stone walls made of ten-centimeter-thick and 20-centimeter-wide stone cubes. The cubes come from the region: 80 percent of the stones come from the city of Hai Phong and 20 percent from Ninh Binh. The blue limestones have only traveled one to two hours to reach the construction site. They go well with the green house.
Read more about natural stone architecture in Vietnam in STEIN in January 2014.